Bøker av Bundesamt für Kultur BAK

Etienne Delessert, born in Lausanne in 1941 and based in Lakeville, Connecticut, made his name as a graphic designer and illustrator in Paris and New York with advertising campaigns and posters, and later gained wide renown for his illustrations, animated films, and paintings. He has illustrated more than 80 books, all of which have become worldwide successes. Eleonore Peduzzi Riva, born in Basel in 1936, worked as a designer and design consultant for major brands such as Cassina, Artemide, and De Sede. The DS-600 modular sofa of 1972, created in collaboration with Ueli Berger, Heinz Ulrich, and Klaus Vogt, is an expression of her goal to enable people to design their personal habitat. Chantal Prod'Hom, also born in Lausanne in 1957, founded the Asher Edelman Foundation in the 1990s, where she staged visionary exhibitions featuring little-known artists, and traveled the world in search of design talent for Benetton's famous Fabrica. Between 2000 and 2022, she directed her native city's Musée cantonal de design et d'arts appliqués contemporains (mudac). Through her tireless commitment, she shapes and fosters public perception of design. Switzerland's Federal Office of Culture has awarded the 2023 Swiss Grand Award for Design to Etienne Delessert, Eleonore Peduzzi Riva, and Chantal Prod'Hom. This book introduces each of them through a concise text and an interview, as well as a brief biography, illustrated with images from their archives.

Susanne Bartsch has been living in New York since 1981, where she has created a dazzling Gesamtkunstwerk through the creation of her iconic looks and legendary parties. As an impresaria, artist-agent, and big-hearted, open-minded hostess, she moves virtuosically at the intersection of fashion, make-up, activism, art, music, and performance. In a career as interior designer, researcher, author, and teacher that has spanned more than five decades, Verena Huber has engaged profoundly with the issues of living and staying. To this day, she continues encouraging people to question spaces and objects and to put them in new contexts. Uncompromising in her approach and always looking beyond national borders, she has been hugely influential in contemporary Swiss interior design. Since the early 1980s, artist Beat Streuli has used photography and video to create works of strong visual force. Although cityscapes form the backdrop of his images, it is always people rather than architectural or structural elements that are in his focus. Streuli's images have made him one of the world's foremost exponents of street portraiture. Switzerland's Federal Office of Culture has awarded the 2022 Swiss Grand Award for Design to Susanne Bartsch, Verena Huber, and Beat Streuli. This book introduces each of them through a concise text and interview as well as a brief biography, illustrated with images from their archives.